The few sketches contained in this small volume were not originally intended for publication—they were written solely for the amusement of my immediate acquaintances, and were forwarded to Europe in the shape of letters. Subsequent considerations have induced me to publish them; and if they be found to contain remarks on some subjects, which other travellers in America have passed over unnoticed, the end that I have in view will be fully answered. Although I remained in the seaboard cities suffi

Following the plan I had laid down for myself, I sought and found a goodly Yankee merchantman, bound for and belonging to the city of New York. Our vessel was manned with a real American crew, that is, a crew, of which scarcely two men are of the same nation—which conveys a tolerably correct notion of the population of the United States. The crew consisted of one Russian, one German, one Italian, one Scotchman, one Newfoundlander, one Irishman, two Englishmen, two New Englanders, and two Negros—

Having determined on quitting "the London of the States," as my friends the Yankees call New York, I had bag and baggage conveyed on board a steamer bound for Albany. The arrangements and accommodations on board this boat were superb, and surpassed any thing of the kind I ever met with in Europe, on the same scale; and the groups of well-dressed passengers fully indicated the general prosperity of the country. The distance between New York and Albany is about 165 miles. The scenery on the Hudson

From Little Sandusky, I passed through Marion, in Marion county. This town, like most others in Ohio, is advancing rapidly, and has at present several good brick buildings. The clap-boarded frame houses, which compose the great mass of habitations in the towns throughout the western country, in general have a neat appearance. I here saw gazetted three divorces, all of which had been granted on the applications of the wives. One, on the ground of the husband's absenting himself for one year: anot

Having decided on visiting New Harmony, in Indiana, where our friend B—— had been for some time enjoying the delights of sylvan life, and the refinements of backwoods-society, T—— and I purchased a horse, and Dearborne, a species of light waggon used in this country for travelling. We furnished ourselves with a small axe, hunting knives, and all things necessary for encamping when occasion required, and so set out about the beginning of September. We crossed the Big-Miami river, and proceeded by

Having remained about a fortnight at Harmony, we made the necessary arrangements, and, accompanied by B——, set out for St. Louis, in Missouri. We crossed the Wabash into Illinois, and proceeded to Albion, the settlement made by the late Mr. Birkbeck. Albion is at present a small insignificant town surrounded by prairies, on which there are several handsome farms. Messrs. Birkbeck and Flowers purchased large tracts of land in this neighbourhood, for the purpose of re-selling or letting it to Engl

On our return to Illinois from Missouri, we visited the tumuli in the "American bottom," for the purpose of more closely investigating the form and disposition of these sepulchral mounds. Their shape is invariably hemispherical, or of the mamélle form. Throughout the country, from the banks of the Hudson to a considerable distance beyond the Mississippi, tumuli, and the remains of earthen fortifications were dispersed. Those of the former which have been removed, were found to contain human bone

The weather having become cold and disagreeable towards the latter end of December, I set out for New Orleans. The larger class of steam-boats lay then at Shippingsport, immediately below the falls of Ohio, the river not being sufficiently high to enable them to pass over those rapids. Boats drawing from nineteen to twenty-six inches water can almost at all seasons ply on the Upper Ohio, and during the periods that the large boats are detained below the Falls, they are constantly employed in tra

Having spent a month in Orleans and the neighbouring plantations, I took my leave and departed for Louisville. The steam-boat in which I ascended the river was of the largest description, and had then on board between fifty and sixty cabin passengers, and nearly four hundred deck passengers. The former paid thirty dollars, and the latter I believe six, on this occasion. The deckers were provided only with an unfurnished berth. The steam-boats, on their passage up and down the rivers, stop at nea

The wailings of the Cherokee, the Choctaw, and the Creek, may have been wafted across the waters of the great salt lake, and the Pale-face in his own land may have heard their lamentations;—but the distant voice is scattered by the passing winds, and is heard like the whisper of a summer breeze as it steals along the prairies of the west, or the cry of the wish-ton-wish as it faintly reaches the ear of the navigator, when, in the stilly night, he floats down "the old father of waters." The prese

I left Kentucky, and passed up the river to Wheeling, in Virginia. There is little worthy of observation encountered in a passage up this part of the Ohio, except the peculiar character of the stream, which has been before alluded to. At Marietta, at the mouth of the Muskingum, ship-building is carried on; and vessels have been constructed at Pittsburg, full 2000 miles from the gulf of Mexico. About seventy miles up the Kenhawa river, in Virginia, are situated the celebrated salt springs, the mo

Having sojourned for more than three weeks at Philadelphia, I departed for New York. The impressions made on my mind during that time were highly favourable to the Philadelphians and their city. It is the handsomest city in the Union; and the inhabitants, in sociability and politeness, have much the advantage of any other body of people with whom I came in contact. The steamer takes you up the Delaware river to Bordentown, in New Jersey, twenty-four miles from Philadelphia. The country at either

NEW CENSUS OF THE UNITED STATES. An abstract of a "careful revision of the enumeration of the United States for the years 1790, 1800, 1810, 1820, and 1830," compiled at the Department of State, agreeably to law; and an ABSTRACT from the Aggregate Returns of the several Marshals of the United States of the "Fifth Census."...

FROM "THE CHEROKEE PHOENIX," OF JULY 31, 1830. The following is part of a Letter written by a Creek Chief, from the Arkansas territory. "The son of General M'Intosh, (an Indian chief), with the M'Intosh party, held a treaty with the government, and were induced, by promises, to remove to Arkansas. They were promised 'a home for ever,' if they would select one, and that bounds should be marked off to them. This has not been done. They were assured that they should draw a proportionate part of the

"A company of whites was in this neighbourhood, with forged notes and false accounts to a very considerable amount upon the Indians, and forcibly drove off the property of several families. This, Sir, is the cause of our misery, poverty, and degradation, for which we have been so much reproached. This is what makes us poor devils . If we fail to make good crops, some of the white neighbours must starve, for many of them are dependent upon us for support, either by fair or foul means. Some of the