"S. H. LONG, _Major U. S. Engineers, commanding Expedition_." On the 3d of May we left the arsenal,[002] where the boat had been built, and after exchanging a salute of twenty-two guns, began to descend the Alleghany, towards Pittsburgh. Great numbers of spectators lined the banks of the river, and their acclamations were occasionally noticed by the discharge of ordnance on board the boat. The important duties assigned the expedition rendered its departure a subject of interest, and some peculiarities in the structure of the boat attracted attention. We were furnished with an adequate supply of arms and ammunition, and a collection of books and instruments. On Wednesday the 5th of May, having completed some alterations, which it appeared necessary to make in our engine, and received on board all our stores, we left Pittsburgh and proceeded on our voyage. All the gentlemen of the party, except Dr. Baldwin, were in good health, and entered upon this enterprise in good spirits and with high expectations. Fourteen miles below Pittsburgh, we passed a steam-boat lying aground; we received and returned their salute, as is customary with the merchants' boats on the Ohio and Mississippi. At evening we heard the cry of the whip-poor-will;[003] and among other birds saw the pelecanus carbo, several turkey vultures, and the tell-tale sand-piper. The spring was now rapidly advancing, the dense forests of the Ohio bottoms were unfolding their luxuriant foliage, and the scattered plantations assuming the cheering aspect of summer. {5} A few weeks' residence at and near Pittsburgh, and several journies across the Alleghany mountains, in different parts, have afforded us the opportunity of collecting a few observations relative to that important section of country, which contains the sources of the Ohio. In the Alleghany river we found several of those little animals, which have been described as a species of Proteus, but which to us appear more properly to belong to the genus Triton.[004]