re
detained below the Falls, they are constantly employed in transporting
produce, intended for the markets on the Mississippi, to Louisville, from
whence it is drayed round to Shippingsport and re-shipped. Flat-boats are
also employed for this purpose, and they are preferred, as they pass over
the Falls, and thus land-carriage is avoided.

Louisville is the chief town of Jefferson county, in Kentucky, and at
present it is estimated to contain about 12,000 inhabitants, including
slaves and free people of colour. The store-keepers here are more wealthy
than those of Cincinnati, and their manners less disagreeable. The
inhabitants of the latter town being mostly from the New England states,
have in their dealings and manners that dry shrewdness which is the true
Yankee characteristic. There are also located in Cincinnati some Irish
pedlars, who have by all manner of means acquired wealth, and are now the
"biggest bugs"[9] in the place.

The public buildings of Louisville are few, and the streets are laid out
in the usual style, crossing each other at right angles. It contains a
few good brick dwelling-houses, and a number of excellent hack-carriages
are stationed near the steam-boat landing. A canal round the Falls, from
Beargrass-creek to Shippingsport, is being constructed, which will enable
steam-boats of the largest tonnage to pass through; and thus it will open
an uninterrupted intercourse between the Upper and Lower Ohio, and the
Mississippi. The length of this canal is about two and a half miles, and
the original estimate was 200,000 dollars, but this sum has been found
insufficient.

At Louisville I took a berth on board a boat for New Orleans. The
steam-boats on the Mississippi are large, and splendidly appointed; the
interior has more the appearance of a well fitted up dining-room than the
cabin of a boat. The charge is twenty-five dollars, for which you are
found in every thing except liquors. Meats, fowls, vegetables, fruits,
preserves, &c., are served in abundance, and of the very best quality.
Here you may see tradesmen, "nigger traders," farmers, "congress men,"
captains, generals, and judges, all seated at the same table, in true
republican simplicity. There is no appearance of awkwardness in the
behaviour of the humblest person you see seated at those tables; and
indeed their general good conduct is remarkable--I mean when contrasted
with that of the same class in England. The truth is, the tradesman he