[122] For the Swiss settlement at Vevay, see Bradbury's _Travels_, volume v of our series, note 164.--ED.
28th. We landed at Port William,[123] Kentucky, a small place, and procured some very excellent bread. As we proceeded slowly I landed on the Indiana side, and went to two or three cottages; at one of { 107} them I got a peck of fine peaches, for which the inhabitants would not take any money. They were hardly ripe, but made very good puddings; as the settlements were new, none of the trees were six years old. At one cabin a man showed me a tree on which there was then growing at least a bushel of peaches; he had planted the stone from which this tree sprung in the spring of 1816. We landed at a cabin in Indiana, where there were a few vines cultivated after the Swiss method; viz. in rows about six feet each way, and tied up to a stick four or five feet high. I was told their appearance promised a productive crop, but a heavy shower of rain prevented my examining them. The soil was rich, but very broken. Only made sixteen miles; the weather showery, and much colder.
[123] Port William, now Carrollton, is situated at the mouth of the Kentucky River. In 1789-90, General Scott built a blockhouse at that point, which was occupied until 1792, when the town of Port William was laid out.--ED.
29th. Early in the morning we reached the town of Madison in Indiana,[124] capital of the county of Jefferson, of sixty or seventy houses, a mixture of brick, frame, and log; { 108} it has a steam-mill, &c. The country less settled, and on the banks a much less number of horses, cows, sheep, pigs, geese, &c. to be seen. This day we made thirty miles or upwards.
[124] For the early history of Madison, Indiana, see Flint's _Letters_, volume ix of our series, note 128.--ED.
30th. Both sides of the river more hilly, and but little land brought into culture. In the forenoon we passed an island eighteen or twenty miles above Louisville; the river much wider, the banks lower, with but little space between them and the hills. We passed another island twelve miles above Louisville, and, after sun-set, anchored opposite a small town of Indiana.
Many new places are continually springing up on the bank, and numbers of them soon go to decay, having nothing to recommend them except the opinion of the proprietors. These are often a set of speculators, who purchase land and attempt to puff it off as one of the best spots in the western country; in short, in the whole world. A speculator like those is a nuisance wherever he sets his foot.