530 
. 
for fome years ; he was then preparing 
for another expedition, and I proceeded 
with him about three hundred miles on 
his way to the province of Mexico, He 
told me that though it was a life of ex- 
treme fatigue and much danger, yet it was 
dificult to be procured, as the Spanifh 
Governors were very jealous in admitting 
any one to this privilege ; and it would 
be impoffible to carry. it on without their 
permiifion. His method of conveying 
fuch articles as he took out to them, was 
in little barrels placed upon pack-horfes ; 
three barrels on one horfe: and in this 
manner he would travel for hundreds, I 
may fay thoufands, of miles through the 
woods of America, bartering with the 
Indians as he went along, and receiving 
from them fkins, furs, wild-horfes, &c. 
é&c. which are all fent down to New Or- 
Jeans. t 
Moft of the articles of export above- 
mentioned are the produce of the planta- 
tions within twocr three hundred miles of 
New Orleans; but the article of flour, 
which is one of the moft coniiderable, to- 
gether with a fmall quantity of hemp, 
tobacco, &c. is the produce of the Ame- 
rican fettlements on the Ohio, a diftance 
of more than two thoufand miles above 
New Orleans! hele articles are put on 
board-akind of boat, orrather raft, which is 
nowhere to be found but on thefe rivers : 
they are a flat-bottomed veffel, about 
twelve feet wide, and forty feet long, and 
carry ft.m ten to fifty tons: they are 
made of the coarfeft materials, becaufe 
they are always broken upand fold when 
they arrive at New Orleans, it being im- 
pofibie for them to return againit the 
fiream. Early in the fpriog thele boats 
are loaded, and, floating night and day, 
they are foon carried by the force of the 
fiream (which ruas ar the rate of five 
miles an hour through a highly romantic 
country) downto the Miffiilippi, wherg 
they arrive about the time that the inun- 
dations commence. In this river, the 
Navigation of which is dangerous on ac- 
count of the rapidity of the current, and 
the numerous lags that lie concealed juit 
Delew the furface of the water, the buat- 
men are cbliged to procecd with caution, 
and it is near a month or five weeks be- 
fore the voyage is completed; a voyage 
where you are fecluded from ali fociety of 
gman, except in a favage flate; but. where 
the eye is relieved by a continual change 
of ‘the meit de.ightful and pifturefque {ce- 
nery, and fome of the grandeft and moi 
fublime views of nature. 
.From the mouth of the Ohio to the 
Defeription of Louifiana. 
[July 1, 
Natchez there are not more than three or 
four fettlements on the banks of the river, 
which ‘confift principally of the Spanith 
garrifons. From thefe refting-places the 
petty commandants prey like harpies on 
the Americans coming down the Miffiffip- 
pi with their produce ; and in vain does 
the peaceable citizen feek for redrefs at 
the very door of the Commander in Chief ; 
his will, as one of them had the effrontery 
to tell me, is the fupreme Jaw of the land: 
he can annul cr confirm the moft folemn 
treaties at pleafure ; and it roo often hap- 
pens that law and equity muft give way 
to whim or caprice, prejudice or intereft : 
A Spanifh trial is a mere mockery of juf- 
tice, as I had frequent opportunities of 
witoeffing. 
If we infpe&t the map of North Ame- 
rica, it will be feen that the eaftérn and 
weltern parts of the United States are fe- 
parated from each other by a ridge of very 
high hiils called the Allegany mountains ; 
and that all the rivers which rife on the 
weltern fide of thefe mountains run into 
the Ohio, which empties itfelf into the 
Miffiffippi in N. L. 37% 0! 23” Confe- 
quently the traders of the weftern country 
have no communication with thofe on the 
eaftern (hore, except by a difficult, tedious, 
and expenfive land carriage over a moun-" 
tainous country, nor any other outlet to 
the fea except the Miffifiippi. Under thefe 
circumftances it is no wonder that we find 
America always contending forthe free and 
undifturbed navigation of this river even 
tothe very ocean. But the pofieffion of 
this right would be cf litsle ufe to her, had 
the not the additional privilege of landing 
her produce in forme’ place of depotit on 
the river, in order to be exported ; and 
there is no settlement on the Mifhffippi 
that wil! anfwer this purpo‘e, or which in 
ta& can be confidered as a pert, except 
Ncw Orleans ; for, owing to the rapidity 
of the ftream, there is notide inthe river, 
and fhips cannot proceed higher up than 
this place} confequently the whole com- 
meice of the weftern country centres in 
this city. Now, after paffing the limits 
of the United States (which do not extend 
farther to the fouthward than N. L. 31°) 
whatever privilege che citizens may claim 
of navigating theriver, they have noright 
to land oa any part of the fhore, without 
permiliion of the Spanifh Government : 
and it was with a view to prevent any con~ 
tention on this point, that Mr. Pinckney 
cbtained the infertion cf the following ar- 
ticle in the treaty concluded between Ame- 
rica and Spain on the zoth October 1795: 
viz.—** His Catholic Majefty will permit 
ee ~ the 
2 “ae 
