The name _Ohio_ is an Indian appellation, signifying ‘the beautiful river.’ This epithet is not bestowed upon it for the whole of its course, but commences at the confluence of the two principal streams, at Pittsburg; above the junction it is called the _Alleghany_. The remotest source of the _Alleghany_ is in the state of Pennsylvania, in north latitude forty-one degrees and forty-five minutes, and west longitude seventy-eight degrees. It is composed of two small streams. At Pittsburg, the Alleghany being joined by the _Monongahela_, the confluent stream receives the appellation of the Ohio. The Monongahela is formed by the confluence of two streams, both rising from the Alleghany chain, in the north-west angle of Virginia, and running parallel to each other for sixty miles in a direct line. The absolute course of the Monongahela is more than two hundred miles, but not above one hundred and thirty in a direct line from south to north. It seems a larger and deeper stream at Pittsburg than the Alleghany, which in the dry season has not above seven feet water where deepest. The waters of the Alleghany are always clear and limpid, while those of the Monongahela, on the contrary, become muddy and turbid, whenever there are a few days of successive rain in that part of the Alleghany Mountains where it rises. Each of the streams is four hundred yards wide at the conflux; and after the junction, the united stream is more enlarged in depth than in breadth. The Ohio, formed by the junction of the Monongahela and Alleghany, appears to be rather a continuation of the former than the latter, which arrives at the confluence in an oblique direction. From Pittsburg to the mouth of the Ohio is one thousand and thirty-three miles by the course of the stream. It receives a vast number of tributary streams on both sides, in its progress to the Mississippi. For the space of three hundred miles below Pittsburg, the Ohio runs between two ridges of hills, rising from three hundred to four hundred feet in height. These appear frequently undulated at their summits, but at other times seem to be perfectly level. They sometimes recede, and sometimes approach the banks of the river, and have their direction parallel to that of the Alleghany chain. These ridges gradually recede farther down the river, till they disappear from the view of those who descend the Ohio. It is not till this river has burst its passage through a transverse chain, at the rapids, near Louisville, that it rolls its waters, through a level and expanded country, as far as the Mississippi. The general appearance of the river is beautiful, placid, gentle and transparent, except in the times of high water. There are two seasons of periodical inundations; namely, winter and spring. According to some, the vernal inundations of this river commence in the latter end of March, and subside in July; and, according to others, they commence early in February, and subside in May. It must be observed, however,