probably of the Merino breed. He fattens cattle for the market, and perhaps erects a flour-mill, or a saw-mill, or a distillery. Farmers of this description are frequently partners in the banks; members of the State assembly, or of Congress, or Justices of the Peace. The condition of the people has necessarily some relation to the age and prosperity of the settlements in which they live. In Pennsylvania, for instance the most extensive farmers are prevalent. In the earliest settled parts of Ohio and Kentucky, the first and second rate farmers are most numerous, and are mixed together. In Indiana, backwoodsmen and second rate settlers predominate. The three conditions of settlers described, are not to be understood as uniformly distinct; for there are intermediate stages, from which individuals of one class pass, as it were, into another. The first invaders of the forest frequently become farmers of the second order; and there are examples of individuals acting their parts in all the three gradations. {210} In the district of Jeffersonville, there has been an apparent interruption of the prosperity of the settlers. Upwards of two hundred quarter sections of land are by law forfeited to the government, for non-payment of part of the purchase money due more than a year ago. A year’s indulgence was granted by Congress, but unless farther accommodation is immediately allowed, the lands will soon be offered a second time for sale. Settlers seeing the danger of losing their possessions, are now offering to transfer their rights for less sums than have already been paid; it being still in the power of purchasers to retain the lands on paying up the arrears due in the land office. This marks the difficulty that individuals at present have, in procuring small sums of money, in this particular district. FOOTNOTES: [119] Fearon.--FLINT. _Comment by Ed._ Henry Bradshaw Fearon, a London surgeon born about 1770, was sent to the United States by an association of English families to investigate suitable sites for their residence. He found little that pleased him, as appears from his account, _Sketches in America_ (London, 1818). [120] The process of cutting the bark round trees, to destroy their growth, is called girdling, or deadening.--FLINT. LETTER XVIII Passage to Cincinnati--Depression of Trade--Population--Manufactures--Institutions--Banks--Climate-- Temperature--Springs--Quantity of Rain--Thunder--Lightning--Aurora-Borealis--Tornadoes--Earthquakes--The Ohio unusually low in 1819--Meeting of the Citizens of Cincinnati--Notice of three Indian Chiefs on their way for Washington City--Remarks on the Pacific Disposition of Indians, and their motives for wars. _Cincinnati, (Ohio,) June 26, 1820._