thing secured, we in serenity slept it out, awakening to find
a beautiful morning, the grape-perfumed air as clear as crystal,
the outlines of woods and hills and streams standing out with sharp
definition, and over all a hushed charm most soothing to the spirit.

Cloverport (705 miles) is a typical Kentucky town, of somewhat less
than four thousand inhabitants. The wharf-boat, which runs up and down
an iron tramway, according to the height of the flood, was swarming
with negroes, watching with keen delight the departure of the "E. D.
Rogan," as she noisily backed out into the river and scattered the
crowd with great showers of spray from her gigantic stern-wheel. It
was a busy scene on board--negro roustabouts shipping the gang-plank,
and singing in a low pitch an old-time plantation melody; stokers,
stripped to the waist, shoveling coal into the gaping furnaces;
chambermaids hanging the ship's linen out to dry; passengers crowded
by the shore rail, on the main deck; the bustling mate shouting
orders, apparently for the benefit of landsmen, for no one on board
appeared to heed him; and high up, in front of the pilot-house, the
spruce captain, in gold-laced cap, and glass in hand, as immovable as
the Sphinx.

At the head of the slope were a picturesque medley of colored folk, of
true Southern plantation types, so seldom seen north of Dixie. Two
wee picaninnies, drawn in an express cart by a half-dozen other sable
elfs, attracted our attention, as W---- and I went up-town for our
day's marketing. We stopped to take a snap-shot at them, to the
intense satisfaction of the little kink-haired mother of the twins,
who, barring her blue calico gown, looked as if she might have just
stepped out of a Zulu group.

Cloverport has brick-works, gas wells, a flouring-mill, and other
industries. The streets are unkempt, as in most Kentucky towns, and
mules attached to crazy little carts are the chief beasts of burden;
but the shops are well-stocked; there were many farmers in town, on
horse and mule back, doing their Saturday shopping; and an air of
business confidence prevails.

In this district, coal-mines again appear, with their riverside
tipples, and their offal defiling the banks. In general, these reaches
have many of the aspects of the Monongahela, although the hills are
lower, and mining is on a smaller scale. Cannelton, Ind. (717 miles),
is the headquarters of the American Cannel Coal Co.; there are, also,
woolen and co