low the falls to
the town.

The scenery on the Kentucky side is much finer than on that of
Indiana, or Ohio. The State of Kentucky was the darling spot of
many tribes of Indians, and was reserved among them as a common
hunting ground; it is said that they cannot yet name it without
emotion, and that they have a sad and wild lament that they still
chaunt to its memory. But their exclusion thence is of no recent
date; Kentucky has been longer settled than the Illinois,
Indiana, or Ohio, and it appears not only more highly cultivated,
but more fertile and more picturesque than either. I have rarely
seen richer pastures than those of Kentucky. The forest trees,
where not too crowded, are of magnificent growth, and the crops
are gloriously abundant where the thriftless husbandry has not
worn out the soil by an unvarying succession of exhausting crops.
We were shewn ground which had borne abundant crops of wheat for
twenty successive years; but a much shorter period suffices to
exhaust the ground, if it were made to produce tobacco without
the intermission of some other crop.

We reached Cincinnati on the 10th of February. It is finely
situated on the south side of a hill that rises gently from
the water's edge; yet it is by no means a city of striking
appearance; it wants domes, towers, and steeples; but its
landing-place is noble, extending for more than a quarter of
a mile; it is well paved, and surrounded by neat, though not
handsome buildings. I have seen fifteen steam-boats lying
there at once, and still half the wharf was unoccupied.

On arriving we repaired to the Washington Hotel, and thought
ourselves fortunate when we were told that we were just in time
for dinner at the table d'hote; but when the dining-room door was
opened, we retreated with a feeling of dismay at seeing between
sixty and seventy men already at table. We took our dinner with
the females of the family, and then went forth to seek a house
for our permanent accommodation.

We went to the office of an advertising agent, who professed to
keep a register of all such information, and described the
dwelling we wanted. He made no difficulty, but told us his boy
should be our guide through the city, and shew us what we sought;
we accordingly set out with him, and he led us up one street, and
down another, but evidently without any determinate object; I
therefore stopped, and asked him whereabout the houses were which
we were going to see.