Page:Early western travels, 1748-1846 (1907 Volume 8).djvu/59

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1812-1819]
Buttrick’s Voyages
53

them. This, said the man, is my pleasure and support, and what I would not exchange for all the luxury of an eastern city. Pleased with this history, we took to our oars, pushed on, working hard during the day, camping on the shore during the night, with short provision till the eighth day, when we came within thirty miles of Pittsburg. Being tired of these waters, we sold our boat, and proceeded on by land. Here we came to a plentiful part of the country, and the next day we arrived at Pittsburg,[1] at the head of Ohio river, three hundred miles from where we first took water. We staid here one day, then parted with the three soldiers, and took passage in a keel boat bound down the river. On board of this boat we had every accommodation we could wish. Forty of the passengers, besides twelve of the boat's crew, stopped at Wheeling, a pleasant town in Virginia, and then proceeded on to Marietta, at the mouth of the Muskingum river, and so on to Cincinnati, Ohio. Here we went on board a flat-bottomed boat, and proceeded to Louisville, Kentucky, at the falls of the Ohio river, seven hundred miles below Pittsburg. I tarried at this place several days, then purchased me a horse, saddle and bridle, parted with my old friend, who had found his brother and wished to remain, started for the eastern States, passed through Frankfort, the seat of government in Kentucky, and came on to Cincinnati in Ohio.

Here I met three gentlemen who were travelling on to the head of the Alleghany river; their company was very acceptable to me, as I was a stranger through that wilderness country. The day after we commenced our journey


  1. For notes on the places mentioned in this paragraph, see A. Michaux’s Travels, volume iii of our series: Pittsburg, note 11; Wheeling, note 15; Marietta, note 16; Cuming’s Tour, volume iv of our series: Cincinnati, note 166; Croghan’s Journals, volume i of our series: Louisville, note 106; F. A. Michaux’s Travels, volume iii of our series: Frankfort, note 39.—Ed.