I 
EMIGRATIONS. 93 
with, and Indeed if they were, tile settlements 
are so far removed from each other, that they 
could he of little service. 
It is very remarkable, that notwithstanding 
that medical assistance is so rarely to be had in 
case of sickness in the back country, yet the 
Americans, when they are about to change their 
place of abode, seldom or ever consider whe¬ 
ther the part of the country to which they are 
going is healthy or otherwise, at least they are 
scarcely ever influenced in their choice of a 
place of residence either by its healthiness or 
unhealthiness. If the lands in one part of the 
country are superior to those in another in fer¬ 
tility ; if they are in the neighbourhood of a 
navigable river, or situated conveniently to a 
good market; if they are cheap, and rising in 
value, thither the American will gladly emi¬ 
grate, let the climate be ever so unfriendly to 
the human system. Not a year passes over, but 
what numbers of people leave the beautiful and 
healthy banks of the Susquehannah R iver, for 
the Genesee country, where nine out of every 
ten of the inhabitants are regularly seized, 
during the autumn, with malignant fevers; but 
the lands bordering upon the Susquehannah 
are in general poor, whereas those in the Ge¬ 
nesee country are iu many places so rich, that 
■until reduced by successive crops of Indian 
