And now, with no slight misgiving, does the author commit his firstborn bantling to the tender mercies of an impartial public. Criticism he does not deprecate, still less does he brave it; and farther than either is he from soliciting undue favour. Yet to the _reader_, as he grasps him by the hand in parting, would he commit his book, with the quaint injunction of a distinguished but eccentric old English writer upon an occasion somewhat similar: "I exhort all people, gentle and simple, men, {viii} women, and children, to buy, to read, to extol these labours of mine. Let them not fear to defend every article; for I will bear them harmless. I have arguments good store, and can easily confute, either logically, theologically, or metaphysically, all those who oppose me." E. F. New-York, Oct., 1838. CONTENTS I The Western Steamboat-landing--Western Punctuality--An Accident--Human Suffering--Desolation of Bereavement-- A Contrast--Sublimity--An Ohio Freshet--View of Louisville-- Early History--The Ohio Falls--Corn Island--The Last Conflict 43 II The Early Morn--"Sleep no more!"--The Ohio--"_La Belle Rivière!_"--Ohio Islands--A Cluster at Sunset--"Ohio Hills"-- The Emigrant's Clearing--Moonlight on the Ohio--A Sunset-scene-- The Peaceful Ohio--The Gigantic Forest-trees--The Bottom-lands-- Obstructions to Navigation--Classification--Removal--Dimensions of Snags--Peculiar difficulties on the Ohio--Leaning Trees-- Stone Dams--A Full Survey--The Result 52 III An Arrest--Drift-wood--Ohio Scenery--Primitive River-craft-- Early Scenes on the Western Waters--The Boatmen--Life and Character--_Annus Mirabilis_--The Steam-engine in the West-- The Freshet--The Comet--The Earthquakes--The first Steamboat-- The _Pinelore_--The Steam-engine--Prophecy of Darwin--Results-- Sublimity--Villages--A new Geology--Rivers--Islands--Forests-- The Wabash and its Banks--New Harmony--Site--Settlement-- Edifices--Gardens--Owen and the "Social System"--Theory and Practice--Mental Independence--Dissension--Abandonment-- Shawneetown--Early History--Settlement--Advancement--Site-- United States' Salines--Ancient Pottery 59 IV