in the lower country are either entirely dried up, or are very small runs in summer, while the tributaries in the higher parts of the country run copiously. This fact is corroborated by the present superior verdure of the high country, in showing, that the quantity of rain is greater than in the lower parts. A lower temperature, and the inter-*mixture of breezes from the valleys of the Mississippi and the Ohio, with those from the lakes and the river St. Lawrence, are to be inferred as the most probable causes.
Oct. 6. Between the Clear Fork and Mansfield (9-1/2 miles) the ground is hilly, and part of it, like that travelled over on the 5th, abounding with chesnut trees. Except for the strength and spirit of my horse, I had not succeeded in carrying my baggage over this rugged part of the country. The roads are not laid out under proper supervision, but pass over steep land, or round the fences of inclosed fields, at the will of interested persons. {281} They calculate badly, however, who disregard utility.
Mansfield is another county town,[155] and is favoured as the seat of a bank. I lodged at Trucksville, a new town, consisting of about half a dozen of frame-houses. The lands of the neighbourhood appeared excellent.
On the 7th, I passed through a part of the country with a surface which is gently undulated. The little inter-*vales seem to be nearly horizontal in their bottoms. This, with the woods that obstruct the view everywhere, imposes the aspect of a low flat country, an illusion that I could only dispel by recollecting that throughout my journey I had travelled in a direction contrary to the motion of the rivers, and by observing that the waters
