105 
lighted with the prospect of the beautiful banks of the Ohio, thickly 
covered with wood. The right shore especially is rocky, and 
occupied by neat dwellings and little settlements. During the 
night we had passed the mouth of the Cumberland, an eastern 
tributary river to the Ohio. This is one of the largest rivers in 
Kentucky. It rises in the Cumberland mountains, in the vicinity 
of the heads of Clinch and Kentucky rivers, flows in a wes¬ 
terly direction more than two hundred miles, enters the state of 
Tennessee, reaching Nashville, after meandering through that state 
one hundred and twenty miles, in the thirty-sixth degree of north 
latitude, or thereabouts, flows then one hundred and twenty miles 
in a north-west course, and discharges itself into the Ohio. 
This mouth of Cumberland is eight hundred and ninety-four 
miles from Pittsburgh, and ten hundred and thirty-five from New 
Orleans. On the right shore we saw the little town of Golconda, 
afterwards the Cave in Rock, where a considerable cavern runs 
into the rock. It reaches one hundred and fifty feet deep under 
the hill, and was used by a robber in former days for a place of 
residence, whence he sallied out and plundered the passing flat- 
boats and smaller craft. 
Towards noon we reached Shawnee town, on the right bank, 
ten hundred and ninety-five miles from New Orleans, and eight 
hundred and thirty-four from Pittsburgh. The Western Naviga¬ 
tor says, u Shawnee town was formerly a village which belong¬ 
ed to the Shawnee Indian nation, and bore its name. It is at 
present a handsomely situated town, in Gallatin county, state of 
Illinois. It contains a post-office, a land-office, and a bank, call¬ 
ed the Great Bank of Illinois, with a capital of two hundred thou¬ 
sand dollars. Although it is subject to be overflowed, yet it is 
nevertheless a considerable place, since it is the centre of the 
emigrants going to Kaskaskias, St. Louis, &c.” It appeared to 
me safe from inundation, as it lies upon a tolerably elevated 
bank. The houses, of which many contain stores, are mostly of 
wood, yet I observed many of brick. It may contain eight hun¬ 
dred inhabitants, mostly white persons. The states of Illinois, 
Indiana, and Ohio, lying between the Mississippi and Ohio, hold 
no slaves; a slave coming here from other states is free: and yet 
these states are only divided by the Mississippi from Missouri, 
and by the Ohio from Kentucky and Virginia, in which three 
states, slavery still exists. 
Ten miles above Shawnee town we passed the mouth of the 
Wabash, a western tributary of the Ohio. 
The Wabash, a very beautiful river, rises not far from the 
sources of the Miami of the Lakes, and meanders through one 
of the most fertile districts of the west. At its mouth, it is about 
two hundred and fifty yards broad, and is navigable about four 
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