ALEXANDER WILSON. 
lvii 
from venturing by myself on so long a voyage down the 
Ohio in an open skiff, I considered this mode, with all 
its inconveniences, as the most favourable to my researches, 
and the most suitable to my funds ; and I determined 
accordingly. Two days before my departure, the Alleghany 
river was one wide torrent of broken ice, and I calculated 
on experiencing considerable difficulties on this score. 
My stock of provisions consisted of some biscuit and 
cheese, and a bottle of cordial, presented me by a gentle- 
man of Pittsburg ; my gun, trunk, and great coat occupied 
one end of the boat ; I had a small tin, occasionally to 
bale her, and to take my beverage from the Ohio with ; 
and, bidding adieu to the smoky confines of Pitt, I 
lanched into the stream, and soon winded away among 
the hills that every where enclose this noble river. The 
weather was warm and serene, and the river, like a 
mirror, except where floating masses of ice spotted its 
surface, and which required some care to steer clear of ; 
but these, to my surprise, in less than a day’s sailing, 
totally disappeared. Far from being concerned at my 
new situation, I felt my heart expand with joy at the 
novelties which surrounded me ; I listened with pleasure 
to the whistling of the red bird on the banks as I passed, 
and contemplated the forest scenery, as it receded, with 
increasing delight. The smoke of the numerous sugar 
camps, rising lazily among the mountains, gave great 
effect to the varying landscape ; and the grotesque log 
cabins, that here and there opened from the woods, were 
diminished into mere dog-houses by the sublimity of the 
impending mountains. If you suppose to yourself two 
parallel ranges of forest-covered hills, whose irregular 
summits are seldom more than three or four miles apart, 
winding through an immense extent of country, and 
enclosing a river half a mile wide, which alternately 
washes the steep declivity on one side, and leaves a rich, 
forest-clad bottom on the other, of a mile or so in breadth, 
