Early Western Travels 1748-1846 A Series of Annotated Reprints of some of the best and rarest contemporary volumes of travel, descriptive of the Aborigines and Social and Economic Conditions in the Middle and Far West, during the Period of Early American Settlement Edited with Notes, Introductions, Index, etc., by Reuben Gold Thwaites, LL.D. Editor of “The Jesuit Relations and Allied Documents,” “Original Journals of the Lewis and Clark Expedition,” “Hennepin’s New Discovery,” etc. Volume IX Flint’s Letters from America, 1818-1820 [Illustration] Cleveland, Ohio The Arthur H. Clark Company 1904 COPYRIGHT 1904, BY THE ARTHUR H. CLARK COMPANY ALL RIGHTS RESERVED The Lakeside Press R. R. DONNELLEY & SONS COMPANY CHICAGO CONTENTS OF VOLUME IX PREFACE. _The Editor_ 9 LETTERS FROM AMERICA, containing Observations on the Climate and Agriculture of the Western States, the Manners of the People, the Prospects of Emigrants, &c., &c. _James Flint_ Dedication 19 Author’s Table of Contents 21 Text 25 ILLUSTRATIONS TO VOLUME IX Facsimile of original title-page 17 Wooden fence (text cut) 40 Horse rake (text cut) 41 Buck saw (text cut) 61 Cradle scythe (text cut) 125 Island in the Ohio (text cut) 159 Typical township map (text cut) 177 Typical subdivision of a township (text cut) 178 PREFACE TO VOLUME IX Had all the travellers from Great Britain who visited America during the early decades of the nineteenth century been of so discriminating a temperament as the Scotchman whose work we republish as volume ix of our series, Americans might have lacked that sensitiveness that arose from unjust and flippant portrayal and criticism of American manners. James Flint was of a good family, had been carefully educated, and possessed a sound and just judgment, with capacity for philosophic insight. Coming to the United States to observe conditions, he depicts them with candor and good will. While confessing favorable preconceptions, due to a personal liking for democratic institutions, our author does not omit the shadows in his pictures; but he presents them with such dispassionate fairness that the sting of criticism is removed.