Page:Early western travels, 1748-1846 (1907 Volume 9).djvu/74

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has flowed more copiously this year, than at any former period; and that the people now moving westward, are ten times more numerous than they were, ten years ago. His computation is founded on the comparative amount of the stage-coach business, and on careful observation. This astonishing statement is, in some degree, countenanced by a late notice in a New York newspaper, that stated the number of emigrants which arrived in that port during the week, ending the 31st of August last, to be 2050. The gentleman alluded to, says, that shades of character, sensibly different from one another, are forming in the western States. He represents the Kentuckians to be a high-toned people, who frequently announce their country, as if afraid of being mistaken for inhabitants of Ohio State; and the Ohians, as having less pride of country, being less assuming in their {45} demeanour, but not less agreeable in conversation, nor less punctual in business transactions. Were it not for the intelligence of my penetrating informant, and for his great intercourse with travellers, I would certainly not have remarked the supposed distinction of these provincial characters. If the difference really exists, it will be difficult to assign any moral cause that is adequate; unless it be the keeping slaves in Kentucky, a species of stock not permitted by the constitution of Ohio.

September 22. We found a waggoner who agreed to carry our travelling necessaries to Pittsburg. For my portmanteau, weighing about fourteen pounds, he charged three dollars, alleging the trouble that attends putting small articles within doors every night. This is an instance of one man measuring his demand by the urgent situation of another. The jolting that waggons undergo in this rugged country, render it indispensable that baggage be packed with the utmost care.