SAILING UP THE RIVER.
As you proceed up the river, your attention is arrested, from time to
time, by small villages. These are more numerous on the Ohio side than
on that of Kentucky. Whether this is owing to the effects of slavery, or
to other reasons, I am not informed. One thing is certain--that nature
is not at fault in the construction of the country; for never in my life
have I seen a prettier variety of hills and dales than on the Kentucky
side of the Ohio River.
The water of the river was high, and the boat could stop at nearly every
considerable village. The principal places we passed, for the first
sixty miles, were Columbia, Point Pleasant, Neville, Higginsport,
Ripley, and Aberdeen, in Ohio; and Mechanicsburg, Belmont, Augusta, and
Charleston, in Kentucky.
Augusta, in Kentucky, is a considerable village, and has one or two
important schools. It has also a few antiquities. So full is the earth
of decaying human bones, that they can hardly dig a hole for a post
without finding some of them.
The water of the Ohio at this season has a turbid or milky appearance.
It is used, on board the steamboats, for all purposes, even for
drinking. To me it was disagreeable; but to some of the passengers it
was more than disagreeable to their taste, for it deranged their
stomachs. This result is probably owing to the lime it contains.
Most of the passengers were on deck during the greater part of the day,
viewing the country, which I have already told you was beautiful. The
villages, in general, had a sooty appearance, caused by coal smoke.