After pulling all day against contrary winds, which, in some straight parts of the river, raised waves that beat upon my boat with considerable force, I lodged at the Black Horse Tavern, on the Virginia side of the river, 63 miles from Pittsburg. The landlord told me that his charges were, in some measure, regulated by the appearance of his guests.--Where a family seem to be poor and clever, he does not charge any thing for their sleeping on the floor. (By clever, he meant honest, or of a good disposition.) The hills that bound the narrow valley of the river are of sandstone and clay schist, with a bed of coal four or five feet thick. People acquainted with the country, say that the hills by the river, and by the creeks, are of a poorer soil than those inland, which are less steep. The process of inundation is probably the cause of the difference. There is a wider interval between the river hills here than in the neighbourhood of Pittsburg, and the bottoms are of course wider; the greater part of them being on the north side of the river. On the south side negroes are numerous. On the forenoon of the 31st a heavy rain fell, accompanied with loud peals of thunder.--Reverberation {78} amongst the rocky hills and woods greatly augmented the sound. The margin of the river is lined with masses of sandstone of enormous size. Others lie in the middle, with their rounded and scratched tops exposed above water. All these must have been detached from the river hills. Arrived at Steubenville, on the right bank of the Ohio. This town stands on a second or higher bottom, exempt from the inundations so unpleasant on the first or lower plains. There are several hundred acres of this dry ground adjacent to the town, the largest tract of the kind that I have seen between the river and the hills. This place is named Steubenville, from Baron Steuben, in consideration of his philanthropic services rendered to America, during the revolutionary war. It contains upwards of 2000 people; and it is regularly laid out, and the houses built of brick, wood, and a few are of stone, all covered with shingles. A newspaper is printed in the town; it contains also a woollen manufactory, a paper-mill, a grist-mill, and a small cotton-mill. These machines are wrought by steam. There are also two earthenware manufactories, and a brewery in the town, four preachers, six lawyers, five surgeons, twenty-seven shops, sixteen taverns, two banks, and a considerable number of artisans, necessary to the existence and increase of the place. The aspect of the river hills, by Steubenville, convey the idea that they are better land, and not so apt to be washed down by rains, as those in the neighbourhood of Pittsburg.--I have had no opportunity of inquiring into the cause.