prietors, and providing another (as
they had plenty), for the passengers; instead of this, in order to save
the extra trouble and expense, they risked the lives of the passengers
on a road with a precipice on one side of it for at least four-fifths of
the way. One of the wheels would not hold the grease, and creaked most
ominously during the whole journey; and we were obliged to stop and pour
water on it continually. The box and irons of the other were loose, and
before we were half way it came off, and we were obliged to stop and get
out. But the Americans are never at a loss when they are in a _fix_.
The passengers borrowed an axe; in a short time wedges were cut from one
of the trees at the road-side, and the wheel was so well repaired that
it lasted us the remainder of our journey.

Our road for some time lay through the valley of Kenawha, through which
runs the river of that name--a strong, clear stream. It is hemmed in by
mountains on each side of it; and here, perhaps, is presented the most
curious varieties of mineral produce that ever were combined in one
locality. The river runs over a bed of horizontal calcareous strata,
and by perforating this strata about forty or fifty feet below the level
of the river, you arrive at salt-springs, the waters of which are pumped
up by small steam-engines, and boiled down into salt in buildings
erected on the river's banks. The mountains which hem in the river are
one mass of coal; a gallery is opened at that part of the foot of the
mountain most convenient to the buildings, and the coal is thrown down
by shoots or small railways. Here you have coal for your fuel; salt
water under fresh; and as soon as the salt is put into the barrels
(which are also made from the mountain timber), the river is all ready
to transplant them down to Ohio. But there is another great curiosity
in this valley: these beds of coal have produced springs, as they are
termed, of carburetted hydrogen gas, which run along the banks of the
river close to the water's-edge. The negroes take advantage of these
springs when they come down at night to wash clothes; they set fire to
the springs, which yield them sufficient light for their work. The one
which I examined was dry, and the gas bubbled up through the sand. By
kicking the sand about, so as to make communications after I had lighted
the gas, I obtained a very large flame, which I left burning.

The heat, as we ascended, was excessive, and