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But then another obstacle presents itself; these streams are nearly dry some months in the year; and, upon an average, frozen two months in every year, and from their great fall, although they swell to a prodigious degree very often, yet they swell and subside in a few hours. I have seen enough of this, having lived among mountains nearly all my life. A boat would get but a few miles, before she would find herself stationary till the next swell; and whether a boat could stem those impetuous torrents at all, is a great question with me ; running down the sides of the mountains as they do, nothing less than a double portion of steam would be able to propel them; experience, however, is the only test of all things.

The Alleghany mountain, as already observed, is so low that if it were not for the streams flowing in oppo. site directions it would not be perceivable. But although low, it spreads out to an immense width; it is nothing less than this mountain that extends to Kenhawa river, 90 miles, although called by other names. Those ridges are much higher than the Alleghany; Greenbriar river rises near the main ridge, on the west of which it runs at a hurrying rate for 200 miles, being hemmed in by the vast bed of mountains just mentioned. It discharges itself into New river, several miles above the junction of that river, with Gauly. On the bosom of this vast mass of mountains are the six counties of Virginia, known by the names of Greenbriar, Monroe, Nicolas, Pocahontas, Giles, and Tazewell, elevated to the clouds, resembling each other in every thing: Greenbrier, however, as she is the mother of the whole, commands most wealth, having the advantage in good land. But with respect to the appearance of the inhabitants, their pursuits and manners, they are alike, and to these we may a‹ld Alleghany, also clipped from the wings of Greenbriar. These counties have been erroneously confounded with the western country, whereas there is as much difference between the people of the western states and those, as there are between any two people in the union. The inhabitants of the western states are an enterprising, systematical, industrious people, to which they are stim

ulated by the fertility of their soil, and numerous navigable rivers. These last are likewise distinguished for energy of mind, politeness of manners, and application to business; whereas the former exhibit a striking contrast to all these traits. These counties, remote from commerce and civilized life, confined to their everlasting hills of freezing cold, all pursuing the same employments, which consist in farming, raising cattle, making whiskey, (and drinking it,) hunting, and digging sang, as they say, present a distinct republic of their own, every way different from any people.

*

Appearance. The young people, of both sexes, are very fair and beautiful, and many of them well formed: the men are stout, active, and amongst the best marksmen in America. They are, both male and female, extravagantly fond of dress; this, and their beauty, only serves to expose their unpolished manners, and want of education. They have no expression of countenance, nor do they appear to possess much mind. One great proof of this, is, that all places of honor, profit, or trust, are monopolized by strangers: even here, in Lewisburg, where Rev. M, (who is also a foreigner,) has been daily employed as the principal of an academy, the only one in the republic, for fifteen years, several foreigners have stepped in and have made great fortunes: and, by the way, too, here are the Messrs. B. and C. the two great mercantile heroes already mentioned. They are taking in the people of Greenbriar with admirable skill. Having rendered Monroe insolvent, they have come to try the range, (to use one of their expressions,) of Greenbriar, and bid fair to strip her as bare as they have her danghter. But this is the fault of the people; that taste they have for dress, foreign manufactures, coffee, tea, &c. will prove their ruin. I passed through this county about thirty years since, when the people hardly knew what tea or coffee was; in fact, many of them did not; and now there is no family but what uses coffee and tea, and in no country under heaven have they more delicious milk, or more abundant.

* Ginseng.

At that time nothing but domestic cloth was worn, and now every one in one hundred men, (out of the country, too,) which I counted to-day, at preaching, were clothed in foreign manufactures; but one only, a member of congress, had on domestic.*

Since I have been here, I have been astonished to see loads of crockery ware, tea-cups, and such things, purchased by people who lived twenty, thirty, and in one instance fifty miles off, put them in the saddle-bags or tie them up in a kerchief: and a woman will think nothing of setting them in her lovely lap, holding them with one hand and the rein of an unruly horse in the other, and set out for home in a round trot, at sunset, which, perchance, may be fifteen or twenty miles dis

tant.

The pernicious effect of this growth of foreign luxuries already begins to show itself; twenty, perhaps forty, for one, die now to what was known when they lived on their own wholesome viands, and dressed in their own coarse but warm and substantial domestic cloths, which are still made, indeed, but brought to the stores and exchanged for frippery, which is not sufficient to defend them against the cold of this region. Consumptions are now common, whereas, thirty years ago, sickness of any sort was almost wholly unknown. The climate is also fatal to black peole. But the most astonishing circumstance which distinguishes this country, and one that has often been remarked, is, that it never has produced one tolerable smart man. From Montgomery to Harrison, there never has been reared one man of abilities of any sort, while Kenhawa, inferior as it may be, has produced one of the brighest stars of American genius, I mean Henry Ruffner, L.L. D. a man of profound erudition, who would do honor to any country; he is the son of Col. Ruffner, mentioned in these sketches. I am told he is professor of Greek, in Washinton college, Va. This cannot be the effect of climate; if it be, how do we account for the opposite result in Switzerland, and other cold countries, which has produced some of the greatest geniuses in the world; nor can it be the effect of education, as genius exists without it. Indeed, West Virginia has dealt out genius * Hon, William Smith.

with a sparing hand: with the exception of John Breckenridge, I am told she has never produced one man that might be called great.

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But, to return to my Grison republic; their dialect sets orthography at defiance, and is with difficulty understood; for instance, the words by, my, rye, they pronounce as you would ay. Some words they have imported, some they have made out and out, some they have swapped for others, and nearly the whole of the English language is so mangled and mutilated by them, that it is hardly known to be such. When they would say pretence, they say lettinon, which is a word of very extensive use amongst them. It signifies a jest, and is used to express disapprobation and disguise; "you are just lettinon to rub them spoons-Polly is not mad, she is only lettinon." Blaze they pronounce bleez, one they call waun, sugar shugger; “ and is this all it ye got?" handkerchief hancorchy, (emphasis on the second syllable ;) and "the two ens of it comed loose;" for get out of the way, they say get out of the road: Road is universally used for way; " put them cheers, (chairs) out of the road." But their favorite word of all, is hate, by which they mean the word thing; for instance, nothing, not a hate-not waan hate will ye's do:" What did you buy at the stores, ladies? "Not a hate-well you hav 'nt a hate here to eat." They have the hickups, and corp, (corps,) and are a cute people. Like Shakspear, they make a word when at a loss: scawm'd is one of them, which means spotted. They have rock houses and rock chimneys, &c. &c.

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It would cure any one of the spleen to take a day or two in the country near the border of this republic.Billy, tell Johnny he must bring Sammy home;" if you were to tell them there were no such words, they would put you down as a fool. Their houses are adorn. ed throughout with netting and fringe of coarse cotton, and the han'tawel: This last puzzled me much; I thought it meant one exclusively for the hands, but it is distinguished from a spacious one that sticks by the four corners to the wall, near the door or window, (if there be one in the house.) Thus disposed, a looking-glass,

of neat device, about four by six inches, is confined in the centre; and by this last, hangs suspended, by one end, a long narrow lucid housewife, with some dozen pockets, consisting of as many different colors. These are grappled by a comb-case, but you would never know it by the name; it is not made of horn at all, but of paste-board, on the outside of which is pasted bit of painted paper; this comb-case is about the size of a lady's reticule, and differs from it in shape only in this, that the part next the wall terminates in a triangle, by which it is suspended amongst its fellow ornaments. The ingenuity, taste, and pride, of the females, seems to be centered in this group of fineries-meantime you are addressed by the mistress of the family, "I reckon you are a most starved," while she is busied in preparing you something to eat: while this is doing, you are suffering the torments of the ordeal, from the impertinent curiosity of the whole family, in asking "What may be your name? where you are going? from whence you came? and whether you are married? and have you any children? and whether your father and mother be alive?" At length a small table is drawn into the centre of the same arpatment you are in, while the noise produced by it, jars every nerve in your body. This table is covered, (in many instances, with a cloth black with grease and dirt,) ten or a dozen plates, (I'll say nothing of them,) are placed on it, and finally one or two small dishes, on which is piled fried meat, to the height of a modern pyramid, with a hay-stack of sliced bread upon a plate. At one end of the table is another pile of besmeared, becracked, cups and saucers, which seem to maintain their place on the edge of the table by magic. You are now asked to sit down, with the man, his wife, and four or six dirty boys and girls, around a table about large enough for two persons; and what's to be done, now? If you offer to touch the pyramid of bread to help any one of the party, great part of it tumbles over the table. But this is unnecessary, each one reaches over the table with the utmost facility and helps himself; now and then, his sleeve, as black as your hat, coming in contact with the meat and bread,

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