were pressed to partake of, but the boats having passed, we could not stop.
Five miles from hence we stopped and moored for the night at Henderson or Redbank. This is the county town of Henderson county in Kentucky.[175] It contains about twenty wooden houses and cabins, including two stores and two large tobacco warehouses. At a squire M'Bride's we saw a patent machine, which gins, cards and spins cotton, all at once, by one person (it may be a child) turning a wheel. Eight threads are spun at once, and wound upon eight spools. It is ingenious and simple, and occupies no more room than a small table.
About five hundred hogsheads of tobacco are shipped here every year, and the place now begins to thrive a little, since several wealthy people have settled in the neighbourhood, and on Green river. From the opposite bank a road leads to Vincennes, which is only fifty-two miles distant.
May 16th.—Proceeding, we went to the right of Redbank island, and at twelve miles passed a ferry on the right, and entered the right hand channel of Diamond island—there being settlements every half mile. Nothing can be more beautifully situated than this fine island. It is four miles and a half long, and contains eight hundred acres of the finest land, well timbered.
It takes its name from its form, which is that of a rhombus or diamond. The river is above a quarter of a mile wide all around it, and above half a mile wide below in a straight reach of two or three miles. It is owned by a Mr. Alvis, a Scotchman, of great property in South Carolina, who bought it about two years ago of one Wells, the original locator. Alvis has a negro quarter, and near one hundred and
