Seventeen miles of the ride from Pittsburgh on to _Cannonsburg_, was chiefly over clayey hills, well adapted for grass; but, in the present circumstances of the country, too stiff for profitable cultivation under the plough. From Cannonsburg to _Washington_, in Pennsylvania, eight miles, is a very desirable tract, containing much excellent land, with fine meadows. Washington is a pretty, thriving town, which contains about two thousand five hundred inhabitants. It has a college, with about a hundred students; but, from the dirty condition of the schools, and the loitering habits of the young men, Mr. Birkbeck suspected it to be an ill-regulated institution. From Washington, Mr. Birkbeck and his family proceeded still westward, and, on entering the _State of Ohio_, they found themselves in a country beautiful and fertile, and affording, to a plain, industrious, and thriving population, all that nature has decreed for the comfort of man. It contains rich land, good water, wholesome air; limestone, coal, mills, and navigation. It is also fully appropriated, and thickly settled; and land is worth from twenty to thirty dollars per acre: an advance of a thousand per cent. in about ten years! A heavy fall of wet had rendered the roads muddy and unpleasant. On the 10th of June, the party arrived at _Wheeling_, a considerable but mean-looking town, of inns and stores, on the banks of the Ohio. Here they baited their horses, and took a repast of bread and milk. At this place the Ohio is divided into two channels, of five hundred yards each, by an island of three hundred acres. Between Wheeling and St. Clairsville, they had sundry foaming creeks to ford; and sundry log-bridges to pass, which are a sort of commutation of danger. They had also a very muddy road, over hills of clay; and thunder and rain during nearly the whole of this their first stage: such thunder, and such rain, as they had heard of, but had seldom witnessed in England. They were detained some days at _St. Clairsville_. This place consists of about one hundred and fifty houses; stores, taverns, doctors'-shops, and lawyers' offices, with the dwellings of sundry artisans; such as tailors, shoemakers, hatters, and smiths. Its chief street runs over one of the beautiful, round, and fertile hills which form this country. The court-house, a handsome brick edifice, on the summit, has a cheerful and a rather striking appearance. If the streets were paved, St. Clairsville would be a pleasant town, but, from the continued rains, they were, at this time, deep in mud. The rich clay of this country is very favourable to grass, and the pastures are extremely fine. When the timber is destroyed, a beautiful turf takes immediate possession of the surface.