WESTERN STATES. 



355 



Sometimes, also, they are used as museums of wax figures, and other shows. There are also 

 keel-boats and barges, which are light and well-built ; skiffs, that will carry from 2 persons to 

 5 tons, " dug-outs," or pirogues, made of hollowed logs, and other vessels, for which language 

 has no name, and the sea no parallel. There are a few small boats that are moved by a crank, 

 turned by a single man. These are on the principle of steamboats. Since the use of steam- 

 boats, numbers of the other craft have disappeared, and the number of river boatmen has been 

 diminislied by many thousands. 



The great thoroughfares are thronged with singular assemblages of travelers. Many are mis- 

 erablv poor, but others, more like the patriarchs, with herds and slaves. On land, they often 

 sleep in their wagons, or tents, and cook for themselves ; and on the rivers the)^ get provisions 

 plentifully from the shore. The steamboats are good hotels, and the traveler is hard to please, 

 who is not delighted in going in them, down the Mississippi or Ohio. The course is often too 

 swift to enjoy perfectly the beauty of the banks, and the scene is so constantly shifting, that it 

 is with a feeling of regret, that one is carried so swiftly by the opening rivers, forests, farms, 

 and towns. The explosions in steamboats are the least of the dangers in traveling in them, at 

 the West ; though they are the chief perils in the Eastern States. The navigation of the Mis- 

 sissippi has many obstructions and dangers, against which caution is of no avail. The chan- 

 nels and banks are constantly shifting, and the stream contains many huge trees, partly im- 

 bedded in the mud. A boat often strikes upon these, and is so shattered, that it fills instantly 

 with water, which sometimes comes in so fast that all the passengers cannot escape. The 

 boats, however, have a snag-room, or bulwark, 10 or 15 feet before the bows, which is a 

 complete defence. The expenses in the steamboats are not great, and the upper deck is fitted 

 to carry emigrants, or passengers, who find their own bedding and food. To such, the fare 

 from New Orleans to St. Louis, is but 8 dollars. The roads are seldom good, and after rains 

 they are exceedingly slippery, frotn the clayey nature of the soil. The inns are but such as 

 may be supported in a new country, where more travelers desire shelter than luxury. In the 

 .arge towns they are well conducted, but in small villages and remote places, if the most fastid- 

 ious traveler finds a single bed, he is indebted for it to chance, and not to custom.* 



but the regular current of the river. In passing down the 

 Mississippi, we often see a number of boats laslied, and 

 floating together. I was once on board a fleet of 8, that 

 were in this way moving toiretlier. It was a considerable 

 walk, to travel over the roofs of tliis floating town. On 

 board of one boat tliey were killing swine. In another, 

 they had apples, cider, nuts, and dried fruit. One of the 

 boats was a retail, or dram-shop. It seems, that the object 

 in lashing so many boats, had been to barter, and obtain 

 supplies. These confederacies often commence in a frolic, 

 and end in a quarrel, in which case, the airgrieved paity 

 dissolves the partnership by unlasliing, and managing his 

 own boat in his own way. While this fleet of boats is 

 floating separately, but each carried by the same current, 

 nearly at the same rate, visits take place from boat to boat 

 in skiffs. While I was at New JVJadrid, a larsje tinner's 

 establishment floated there in a boat. In it all the differ- 

 ent articles of tin-ware were manufactured and sold by 

 wholesale and retail. There were large apartments, where 

 the different branches of the art were carried on in this 

 floating manufactory. When they liave mended all tlie 

 tin, and vended all that they could sell, in one place, they 

 floated on to another. A still more extraordinary manu- 

 factory, we were told, was floatincr down the Ohio, and 

 shortly expected at ^'ew Madrid. Aboard this wa.i man- 

 ufactured axes, scythes, and all other iron tools of this 

 description, and in it horses were .shod. In short, it was 

 a complete blacksmith's shop, of a hicrlier order, and 

 it is said, that they je3tinn;ly talked of having a trip- 

 hammer worked by a horse-power, on board. I have fre- 

 quently seen a dry goods shop in a boat, with its articles 

 very handsomely arranged on shelves. Nor would the 

 delicate hands of the vender, have disgraced tlie si>ruce 

 clerk behind our city counters. It is now common to see 

 flat boats worked by a bucket wheel, and a horse power, 

 after the fashion of steamboat movement. Indeed, every 

 spring brings forth new contrivances of this sort, the re- 

 sult of the farmer's meditations over his winter's fire." — 

 Flint's Residence. 



"The following is Mr. Flint's description of one of the 

 various perils that sometimes beset tlie traveler on the 

 western waters. He was in a boat, accompanied only by 

 his wife and small children. 



We arrived opposite to the second Chickasaw bluff' on 

 the 2(ith of November. The country on the shore re- 

 ceives and deserves the emphatic name of ' wilderness.' 

 At 10 in the morning we perceived indications of a severe 

 approaching storm. The air was oppressively sultry. 

 Brassy clouds were visible upon all quarters of the sky. 

 Distant thunder was heard. We were on a wide sand- 

 bar, far from any house. Opposite to us was a vast cy- 

 press swamp. At this period, and in this place, Mrs. F. 

 was taken in travail. My children, wiapped in blankets, 

 laid themselves down on the sand bar. I secured the boat 

 in every possible way. against tl e danger of being driven 

 by the i-^torm into the river. At I ' o'clock the storm burst 

 upon us in all its fur}'. Mrs. F. had been salivated during 

 her fever and had not yet been aide to leave her couch. I 

 was alone with her in this dreadt^ul situation. Hail, and 

 wind, and thunder, and rain in torrents, pfiured in upon 

 us. I was in terror, lest the wind would drive my boat, 

 notwithstanding all her fastenings, into the river. No im- 

 agination can reach what I endured. The only alleviat- 

 ing circumstance was her perfect tranquillity. She knew 

 that the hour of sorrow, and expected that of death, had 

 come. She was so perfectly calm, spoke with such tian- 

 qiiil assurance about the future, and about the dear ones, 

 that were at this moment ' biding the peltinir of the piti- 

 less storm.' on the sand-bar, that I became myself calm, 

 A little after 12, the wind burst in the roof of my boat, 

 and let in the glare of the licfhtning, and the torrents of 

 rain upon my poor wife. I could really have expostulated 

 with the elements in the language of tlie poor old Lear. 

 I had wrapped my wife in blankets, readv to be carried to 

 the shelter of the forest, in case oF the driving of my boat 

 into the river. About 4 o'clock the fury of the storm be- 

 gan to subside. At 5, the sun in his descending glory 

 hurst frorri the dark masses of the receding clouds. At 11 



