t is that, having
the choice, the young people are the best mounted, I know not, but the
runaways are seldom overtaken. One couple crossed the Ohio when I was
at Cincinnati, and had just time to tie the noose before their pursuers
arrived.

At Lexington, on Sunday, there is not a carriage or horse to be obtained
by a white man for any consideration, they having all been regularly
engaged for that day by the negro slaves, who go out in every direction.
Where they get the money I do not know; but certain it is, that it is
always produced when required. I was waiting at the counter of a sort
of pastry-cook's, when three negro lads, about twelve or fourteen years
old, came in, and, in a most authoritative tone, ordered three glasses
of soda-water.

Returned to Louisville.

VOLUME TWO, CHAPTER THIRTY SIX.

There is one great inconvenience in American travelling, arising from
the uncertainty of river navigation. Excepting the Lower Mississippi
and the Hudson, and not always the latter, the communication by water is
obstructed during a considerable portion of the year, by ice in the
winter, or a deficiency of water in the dry season. This has been a
remarkable season for heat and drought; and thousands of people remain
in the States of Ohio, Virginia, and Kentucky, who are most anxious to
return home. It must be understood, that during the unhealthy season in
the southern States on the Mississippi, the planters, cotton-growers,
slave holders, store-keepers, and indeed almost every class, excepting
the slaves and overseers, migrate to the northward, to escape the yellow
fever, and spend a portion of their gains in amusement.

They go to Cincinnati and the towns of Ohio, to the Lakes occasionally,
but principally to the cities and watering places of Virginia and
Kentucky, more especially Louisville, where I now am; and Louisville,
being also the sort of general rendezvous for departure south, is now
crammed with southern people. The steam boats cannot run, for the river
is almost dry; and I (as well as others) have been detained much longer
on the banks of the Ohio than was my intention. There is land-carriage
certainly, but the heat of the weather is so overpowering that even the
Southerns dread it; and in consequence of this extreme heat the sickness
in these western States has been much greater than usual. Even
Kentucky, especially that part which borders on the Mississippi, which,
generally speaking, is hea