It might be difficult to form a conception of any topographical inquiry more interesting to the State of Ohio, and some other parts, than the structure and conditions of the high grounds which separate between the waters of the river Ohio and Lake Erie. It remains to be ascertained, whether a sufficient quantity of water can be found for supplying the summit level of the contemplated canal between the river and the lake, and through what point in the ridge the lowest, or otherwise most eligible line may be drawn. When the first of these questions is solved, it will be easy to say whether New Orleans or New York will be the future emporium of this part of the country. I believe the only specific information on the subject, that has been published, is in a paper by Governor Brown,[156] of the State of Ohio, who has repeatedly recommended that the legislature should pass an act for causing the necessary surveys to be made, {282} but without effect. It is curious that it was the legislature of the same State (Ohio) that, a few years ago, made an overture to the Congress, for ascertaining whether it is practicable to make a canal between the Gulf of Mexico and the Pacific Ocean. The country between New Lancaster and the heads of the waters that fall into Lake Erie (about a hundred miles) is high, fertile, well watered, and comparatively exempt from the endemical sicknesses which annoy the inhabitants of lower lands. The country over which I travelled on the 8th, is intermixed with flat lands. The great holes and ruts in the roads showed that they are occasionally drenched with water. If my olfactory organs did not deceive me, the air was somewhat tainted. At Munro, a small branch of Huron River, I had some difficulty in procuring breakfast. All the family in the tavern were either sick, or so much emaciated by recent disease, that they were scarcely able to do any thing. Every person in the town, old and young, had been attacked, two individuals being only excepted. For two years past, the place has been more unhealthy than formerly; and the people believe that the change has been occasioned by the erection of a mill-dam in the creek. The surmise is probably just, as the dam is now dry, and both the mud and vegetable matters are exposed to the heat and consequent decomposition, evolving hydrogen gas, which is understood to be deleterious. At the distance of about fourteen miles from Portland, the road enters the great prairie that stretches along the south side of the lake. It is covered with coarse grass, of a luxuriant growth, and an immense variety of weeds. Some slight eminences are wooded, and resemble islands or {283} peninsulas in the plain. In passing along, I perceived openings which seemed to extend to the distance of twelve or fourteen miles.