aux resolved to travel on foot, from this place to Lexington. The
distance is sixty-five miles, and he performed the journey in two days
and a half. In his journey he passed through _Mays Lick_, where there
is a salt-work. The wells that supply the salt-water are about twenty
feet in depth, and not more than fifty or sixty fathoms from the _River
Salt Lick_; the waters of which, during the summer, are somewhat
brackish. In this part of the country salt-springs are usually found in
places which are described by the name of _Licks_; and where, before the
arrival of Europeans, the bisons, elks, and stags, that existed in
Kentucky, went, by hundreds, to lick the saline particles; with which
the soil is impregnated.

In the country around Mays Lick the soil is dry and sandy; and the road
is covered with large, flat, chalky stones, of a bluish colour within,
and the edges of which are round. The only trees that M. Michaux
observed here, were white oaks and hickory; and the stinted growth and
wretched appearance of these, clearly indicated the sterility of the
soil.

In the year 1796, _Lexington_ consisted of only eighteen houses; but it
now contained more than a hundred and fifty, half of which were of
brick. This town is situated on a delightful plain, and is watered by a
small river, near which were several corn-mills. Every thing seemed to
announce the comfort of its inhabitants. It is built on a regular plan.
The streets are broad, and cross each other at right angles. The want of
pavement, however, renders it very muddy in winter. There were, at this
time, in Lexington, two printing-offices, at each of which a newspaper
was published twice a week. Two extensive rope-walks, constantly in
employ, supplied, with rigging, the ships that were built upon the Ohio.
Independently of other manufactories which had been established in this
town, there were several common potteries, and one or two
gunpowder-mills. The sulphur for the latter was obtained from
Philadelphia, and the saltpetre was manufactured from substances dug out
of grottos, or caverns, that are found on the declivity of lofty hills,
in the mountainous parts of the state. The soil of these is extremely
rich in nitrous particles.

[About fifty miles west of Lexington, on the bank of the Ohio, and near
the falls of that river, is the town of _Louisville_. This place forms a
connecting link between New Orleans and the whole western parts of the
United States. Mechan