Tour through Kentucky.--Bigbonelick.--Mammoths.--Two Kentuckian
Characters.--Kentuckian Scenes.
After a stay of six days in Cincinnati I departed; crossed the Ohio in
the ferryboat, and landed in the state of Kentucky, at Newport, a small
country town of Campbell county. It contains, besides the government
arsenal for the western states, a court-house, and about 100 buildings,
scattered irregularly upon the eminence. From thence to Bigbonelick, the
distance is 23 miles; the country is more hilly than on the other side
of the river; it is, however, fertile, the stratum being generally
limestone. The growth of timber is very fine; the trees are beech,
sugar-maple, and sycamore. The contrast between Ohio and Kentucky is
striking, and the baneful influence of slavery is very soon discovered.
Instead of elegant farms, orchards, meadows, corn and wheat fields
carefully enclosed, you see patches planted with tobacco, the leaves
neglected; and instead of well-looking houses, a sort of double cabins,
like those inhabited in the north of Pennsylvania by the poorest
classes. In one part lives the family, in the other is the kitchen;
behind these, are the wretched cabins of the negroes, bearing a
resemblance to pigsties, with half a dozen black children playing about
them on the ground.
About three o'clock I arrived at Bigbonelick, well known for its Mammoth
bones. The lands ten miles on this side of Bigbone are of an indifferent
character, dreary and mountainous. The valley of Bigbone is about a mile
long, and of equal breadth; it no doubt has been the scene of some great
convulsion of nature. The water is seen oozing forth from the many bogs,
and has a saltish taste, impregnated with saltpetre and sulphur. These
quagmires are covered with a thin grass, which has the same taste. Their
depth is said to be unfathomable. Whether the Mammoth bones which are
found here, were brought into the valley by a convulsion of the earth,
by an inundation, or whether the animals sunk down when in search of
food, remains to be decided. The first two suppositions seem authorised
by the circumstance, that bones were found, not on their carcases, but
scattered, which could not be the case if they were swallowed up alive.
The same revolution of nature which carried elephants and palm-trees to
Siberia and Lapland, and the lions of Africa to the coast of Gibraltar,
may, in like manner, have brought these animals to Bigbonelick. The
tradition handed down to us by the Indians respecting them, is
remarkable. "In ancient times, it is said, a herd of these tremendous
animals came to the Bigbonelicks, and commenced an universal destruction
among the buffaloes, bears, and elks, which had been created for the
Indians. The Great Spirit looking down from above, became so enraged at
the sight, that taking some of his thunderbolts he descended, seated
himself on a neighbouring rock which still bears the print of his
footsteps, and hurling down the bolts among the destroyers, killed them
all with the exception of the big bull, which, turning its front to the
bolts, shook them off; but being struck at last in the side, he turned
round, and with a tremendous leap bounded over the Ohio, the Wabash, the
Illinois, and the great lakes, beyond which he is still living at the
present day."
Some few weeks later, I spoke with an Indian trader at Trinity.
According to his account, he found in one of his excursions, traces of a
large animal, belonging to none of the species known to him, and equal
in size to the elephant. On making inquiries of an old Indian, the
latter ascribed the traces to an immense, but very rare animal, the
race of which was almost destroyed by the Great Spirit; there remaining
but very few on the other side of the lakes. He also pretended that
he had seen one of those animals: whether the tale of the Indian, or
that of the trader, a class of people somewhat prone to exaggeration,
be true or not, I am incapable of deciding. I afterwards met this
man at New Orleans, and requested him to go along with me to one of my
acquaintances, in order to furnish further information on this subject,
and enable me to give publicity to it, but he pretended business, and
refused to accompany me. The researches which were undertaken here, were
amply rewarded. The greatest part of the early discoveries has been
transmitted to London; a fine collection is exhibiting in the Museum at
Philadelphia, and in the Levee at New Orleans.
The road from Bigbonelick is, for the distance of ten miles, dreary and
the country barren. I arrived late at a farm-house, of rather a better
appearance, where I intended to stop the night. The first night's
lodging convinced me but too plainly, that the inhabitants of this
state, justly called in New York, half horse and half alligator, had not
yet assumed a milder character. The farmer, or rather planter, was
absent with his wife; and his brother, who took care of the farm, was at
a horse race; an old man, however, with his daughter, answered my
application for a lodging, in the affirmative. I was supping upon slices
of bacon, roasted corn bread, and some milk, when the brother of the
farmer returned from the races with his neighbour. Both had led horses
besides those on which they rode. Before dismounting they discharged
their pistols. Each of the Kentuckians had a pistol in his girdle, and a
poniard in the breast pocket. Before resuming my supper I was pressed to
take a dram. With a quart bottle in one hand, and with the other drawing
the remains of tobacco from his mouth, in rather a nauseous manner, the
host drank for half a minute out of the bottle; then took from the slave
the can with water, and handed the bottle to me, the mouth of which had
assumed, from the remains of the tobacco, a brownish colour. The
Kentuckian looked displeased when I wiped the bottle. I however took no
notice of him, but presented it, after having drunk, to his friend. We
sat down.
"How far are you come to day?" asked the landlord.
"From Cincinnati."
"You don't live in Cincinnati, I guess, do you?"
"No, sir."
"And where do you live?"
"In Pennsylvania."
"A fine distance!" exclaimed my host, "I like the people of Pennsylvania
better than those G----d d----d Yankees, but still they are no
Kentuckians." I gave my full and hearty assent.
"The Kentuckians," continued my landlord, "are astonishingly mighty
people; they are the very first people on earth!"
"Yes, sir."
"They are immensely great, and wonderfully powerful people; ar'nt they?"
"Yes, sir."
"They are ten thousand times superior to any nation on earth."
"Yes, sir."
"How do you like Kentucky?"
"Very well, sir; I travelled through it four years ago."
"G--d d--n my s--l t----e----l d----n!" roared he. "The Pennsylvanians
have not a square mile of land in their state, equal to our poor lands.
Bill," turning now to his neighbour on the left, "Bill has been marked
in a mighty fine style. G--d d--n, &c., he blooded like a hog."
"Yes," replied the neighbour, "Sam has stabbed exceedingly well, I
presume. Bill has to wait four weeks before he may be on his legs again,
if he will be at all. G--d d--n! but to tell Isaac, his horse, which he
thinks so much of, is a poor beast compared with his--and so to give him
the lie. I would have knocked him down, come what might _out of it_. But
Dick and John!"--and now these two fellows broke out into roaring shouts
of horse laughter. "How his eyes twinkled, he looked quite as squire
Toms, when laying all night over the bottle; I guess he never will be
able to set his eyes a-right."
"He does not see," said the neighbour; "the one is quite out of its
socket, and Joe was obliged to carry him home."
"Why, the seconds are wonderfully lovely fellows, I warrant you; they
did not spoil the sport with interfering."
"Yes, they bore John an old grudge."
"Oh, certainly--it was a mighty fine sport; I would not for the world
have missed it. G--d d--n! Dick is a fine gouger--the second turn--John
down--and both thumbs in his eyes.--I presume you have races in
Pennsylvania?" turning to me.
"Yes, sir."
"And fightings and gougings?"
"No, sir." With an expressive look towards his neighbour, he continued:
"Yes, the Pennsylvanians are a quiet, religious sort of people; they
don't kill anything but their hogs, and prefer giving their money to
their parsons." The evening passed in these and similar conversations,
of which the above are mere specimens; and it was eleven o'clock before
the interesting pair separated.
Some miles below Mr. White's farm, the road divides into two, the one
leading to Newcastle, the other to the Ohio. I stopped at a farm fifteen
miles from my former night's lodging. The landlord was mounting his
horse for Newcastle; his wife sat in the kitchen, surrounded by eight
negro girls, all busy knitting and sewing. The girls seemed to be in
excellent spirits, and were tolerably well dressed; the house rather
indicated affluence, though it was far from possessing the order and
cleanliness of a few of only half its value in Ohio. It was a simple
brick house; but constructed without the least attention to the rules of
symmetry. The fields were in a very indifferent state. Behind the
dwelling, were seen some negro infants at play, while an old negro woman
was preparing my breakfast. The family had thirty-five slaves, both
young and old, forming a capital of at least 10,000 dollars. "Was not I
a fool?" asked the open-hearted landlady, "to marry Mr. Forth, who had
but twelve slaves, and a plantation, with seven children; but they are
provided for;--whereas I had fourteen slaves, and a plantation too,
after my first husband's decease, and no children at all."--"I don't
know," was my reply, afraid of engaging the old lady in further
discussion. While descanting upon this theme, and on the advantages
resulting to her happy husband from a match so disparaging on her part,
I was allowed to take my breakfast, when some yells and hallooing called
us to the door. A troop of horsemen were passing. Two of the party had
each a negro slave running before him, secured by a rope fastened to an
iron collar. A tremendous horsewhip reminded them at intervals to
quicken their pace. The bloody backs and necks of these wretches,
bespoke a too frequent application of the lash. The third negro had,
however, the hardest lot. The rope of his collar was fastened to the
saddle string of the third horseman, and the miserable creature had thus
no alternative left, but to keep an equal pace with the trotting horse,
or to be dragged through ditches, thorns, and copsewood. His feet and
legs, all covered with blood, exhibited a dreadful spectacle. The three
slaves had run away two days before, dreading transportation to
Mississippi or Louisiana. "Look here," said Mrs. Forth, calling her
black girls, "what is done with the bad negroes, who run away from their
good masters!" With an indifference, and a laughing countenance, which
clearly shewed how accustomed these poor children were to the like
scenes, they expressed their sentiments at this disgusting conduct.
The road from Mr. Forth's plantation runs a considerable distance along
ridges, descending finally into the bottom lands along the Ohio. These
are exceedingly fertile. The growth of timber is extremely luxuriant. I
measured a sycamore of common size, and found it seventeen feet in
diameter; their height is truly astonishing. The soil is of a deep brown
colour, and where it is turned up, proves to be blackish. The stratum
is generally limestone. I crossed the Ohio at Ghent, in Kentucky,
opposite to Vevay, in Indiana.