[21] This letter was dictated by Red-jacket, and interpreted by Henry Obeal, in the presence of ten chiefs, whose names are affixed, at Canandaigua, January 18, 1821. [22] "The attachment which savages entertain for their mode of life supersedes every allurement, however powerful, to change it. Many Frenchmen have lived with them, and have imbibed such an invincible partiality for that independent and erratic condition, that no means could prevail on them to abandon it. On the contrary, no single instance has yet occurred of a savage being able to reconcile himself to a state of civilization. Infants have been taken from among the natives, and educated with much care in France, where they could not possibly have intercourse with their countrymen and relations. Although they had remained several years in that country, and could not form the smallest idea of the wilds of America, the force of blood predominated over that of education: no sooner did they find themselves at liberty than they tore their clothes in pieces, and went to traverse the forests in search of their countrymen, whose mode of life appeared to them far more agreeable than that which they had led among the French."--_-Heriot_, p. 354. This passage of Heriot's is taken nearly verbatim from Charlevoix, v. 2, p. 109. CHAPTER X. I left Kentucky, and passed up the river to Wheeling, in Virginia. There is little worthy of observation encountered in a passage up this part of the Ohio, except the peculiar character of the stream, which has been before alluded to. At Marietta, at the mouth of the Muskingum, ship-building is carried on; and vessels have been constructed at Pittsburg, full 2000 miles from the gulf of Mexico. About seventy miles up the Kenhawa river, in Virginia, are situated the celebrated salt springs, the most productive of any in the Union. They are at present in the possession of a chartered company, which limits the manufacture to 800,000 bushels annually, but it is estimated that the fifty-seven wells are capable of yielding 50,000 bushels each, per annum, which would make an aggregate of 2,850,000 bushels. Many of these springs issue out of rocks, and the water is so strongly impregnated with salt, that from 90 to 130 gallons yield a bushel. The whole western country bordering the Ohio and its tributaries, is supplied with salt from these works. Wheeling, although not large, enjoys a considerable share of commercial intercourse, being an entrepôt for eastern merchandize, which is transported from the Atlantic cities across the mountains to this town and Pittsburg, and from thence by water to the different towns along the rivers.