and
educated with much care in France, where they could not possibly have
intercourse with their countrymen and relations. Although they had
remained several years in that country, and could not form the smallest
idea of the wilds of America, the force of blood predominated over that
of education: no sooner did they find themselves at liberty than they
tore their clothes in pieces, and went to traverse the forests in search
of their countrymen, whose mode of life appeared to them far more
agreeable than that which they had led among the French."--_-Heriot_, p.
354.

This passage of Heriot's is taken nearly verbatim from Charlevoix, v. 2,
p. 109.

CHAPTER X.

I left Kentucky, and passed up the river to Wheeling, in Virginia. There
is little worthy of observation encountered in a passage up this part of
the Ohio, except the peculiar character of the stream, which has been
before alluded to. At Marietta, at the mouth of the Muskingum,
ship-building is carried on; and vessels have been constructed at
Pittsburg, full 2000 miles from the gulf of Mexico. About seventy miles up
the Kenhawa river, in Virginia, are situated the celebrated salt springs,
the most productive of any in the Union. They are at present in the
possession of a chartered company, which limits the manufacture to
800,000 bushels annually, but it is estimated that the fifty-seven wells
are capable of yielding 50,000 bushels each, per annum, which would make
an aggregate of 2,850,000 bushels. Many of these springs issue out of
rocks, and the water is so strongly impregnated with salt, that from 90 to
130 gallons yield a bushel. The whole western country bordering the Ohio
and its tributaries, is supplied with salt from these works.

Wheeling, although not large, enjoys a considerable share of commercial
intercourse, being an entrepot for eastern merchandize, which is
transported from the Atlantic cities across the mountains to this town and
Pittsburg, and from thence by water to the different towns along the
rivers.

The process of "hauling" merchandize from Baltimore and Philadelphia to
the banks of the Ohio, and _vice versa_, is rather tedious, the roads
lying across steep and rugged mountains. Large covered waggons, light and
strong, drawn by five or six horses, two and two, are employed for this
purpose. The waggoner always rides the near shaft horse, and guides the
team by means of reins, a whip, and his voice. The time generally consumed
i