THE FIRST INHABITANTS

OF KENTUCKY AND TENNESSEE.

PRIOR to our arrival at Marietta, we met one of these settlers, an inhabitant of the environs of Wheeling, who accompanied us down the Ohio, and with whom we travelled for two days, alone in a canoe from eighteen to twenty feet long, and from twelve to fifteen inches broad, he was going to survey the borders of the Missouri, for a hundred and fifty miles beyond its embouchure. The excellent quality of the land, that is reckoned to be more fertile there, than that on the borders of the Ohio, and which the Spanish Government, at that time, ordered to be distributed gratis, the quantity of bears, elks, and more especially bisons, were the motives that induced him to emigrate into this remote part of the country, whence, after having determined on a suitable spot to settle there with his family, he was returning to fetch them from the borders of the Ohio, which obliged him to take a journey of fourteen or fifteen hundred miles; his costume like that of all the American sportsmen, consisted of a waistcoat with sleeves, a pair of pantaloons, and a large red and yellow worsted sash, a

carbine, a tomahawk or little axe, which the Indians make use of to cut wood and to terminate the existence of their enemies, two beaver snares and a large knife, suspended at his side, constituted his sporting dress. A rug comprised the whole of his baggage. Every evening he encamped on the banks of the river, where after having made a fire, he passed the night; and whenever he conceived the place favorable for the chase, he remained in the woods for several days together, and with the produce of his sport, he gained the means of subsistence, and new ammunition, with the skins of the animals that he had killed.

Such were the first inhabitants of Kentucky and Tennessee, of whom there are now remaining but very few. It was they, who began to clear those fertile countries, and wrested them from the savages, who ferociously disputed their right; it was they, in short, who made themselves masters of the possessions, after five or six years bloody war; but the habit of a wandering and idle life has prevented their enjoying the fruit of their labours, and profiting by the very price, to which these lands have risen in so short a time. They have emigrated to more remote parts of the country and formed new settlements. It will be the same with most of those, who inhabit the borders of the Ohio. The

same inclination that led them there, will induce them to emigrate from it. To the latter will succeed fresh emigrants, coming also from the Atlantic States, who will desert their possessions to go in quest of a milder climate and a more fertile soil. The money, that they will get for them will suffice to pay for their new acquisitions, the security of which will be assured by a numerous population. The last comers instead of log houses, with which the present inhabitants are contented, will build wooden ones, clear a greater quantity of the land, and be as industrious and persevering in the amelioration of their new possessions, as the former were indolent of every thing, being so fond of hunting, To the culture of Indian corn, they will add that of other grain, hemp and tobacco; rich pasturages will nourish innumerable flocks, and an advantageous sale of all the country's produce will be assured them, through the channel of the Ohio.

The happy situation of this river entitles it to be looked upon as the centre of commercial activity between the Eastern and Western States. By it, the latter receive the manufactured goods, which Europe, India and the Caribbees supply the former; and it is the only open communication with the ocean, for the exportation of provisions from the immense and fertile parts

of the United States, comprised between the Alleghany mountains, the lakes and the left banks of the Mississippi.

All these advantages, blended with the salubrity of the climate and the beauty of the landscapes, enlivened in the spring by a group of boats, which the current whirls along with astonishing rapidity, and the uncommon number of sailing vessels, that from the bosom of this vast continent go directly to the Caribbees; all these advantages, I say, make me think, that the banks of the Ohio from Pittsburg to Louisville inclusively, will in the course of twenty years, be the most populous and commercial part of the United States, and where I should settle, in preference to any other.

(F. A. Michaud, Travels on the Ohio, etc, 8 vo. London, 1805.)

AN AMERICAN BACKWOODSMAN,

DURING THE WAR OF INDEPENDENCE.

THROUGHOUT all this country, and in every back settlement, in America, the roads and paths are first marked out by blazees on the trees, cut alternately on each side of the way, every thirty or forty yards; these are removed every time the roads are repaired. A blazee is a large chip sliced off the side of a tree with an axe; it is above twelve inches in length, cut through the bark and some of the sap wood, and by its white appearance and brightness when fresh made, serves to direct the way in the night as well as in the day.

The miles are chiefly computed and are ascertained by notches, chopped in the nearest tree; a notch for every mile. The first blazeed paths originated in this manner, when any person went from one place to another through the woods, where it would have been difficult if not impossible, to return upon his track, he fell upon this method of blazing each side of the trees, at certain distances, as he passed on, and thereby retraced his way in returning without the least trouble.