fertility they had to encounter such disease and mortality.

I have often heard it asserted by Englishmen, that America has no coal.
There never was a greater mistake: she has an abundance, and of the very
finest that ever was seen. At Wheeling and Pittsburg, and on all the
borders of the Ohio river above Guyandotte, they have an inexhaustible
supply, equal to the very best offered to the London market. All the
spurs of the Alleghany range appear to be one mass of coal. In the
Eastern States the coal is of a different quality, although there is
some very tolerable. The anthracite is bad, throwing out a strong
sulphureous gas. The fact is that wood is at present cheaper than coal,
and therefore the latter is not in demand. An American told me one day,
that a company had been working a coal mine in an Eastern State, which
proved to be of a very bad quality; they had sent some to an influential
person as a present, requesting him to give his opinion of it, as that
would be important to them. After a certain time he forwarded to them a
certificate couched in such terms as these:--"I do hereby certify that I
have tried the coal sent me by the company at --, and it is my decided
opinion, that when the general conflagration of the world shall take
place, any man who will take his position on that _coal-mine_ will
certainly be the _last man_ who will be _burnt_."

I had to travel by coach for six days and nights, to arrive at
Baltimore. As it may be supposed, I was not a little tired before my
journey was half over; I therefore was glad when the coach stopped for a
few hours, to throw off my coat, and lie down on a bed. At one town,
where I had stopped, I had been reposing more than two hours when my
door was opened--but this was too common a circumstance for me to think
any thing of it; the people would come into my room whether I was in bed
or out of bed, dressed or not dressed, and if I expostulated, they would
reply, "Never mind, _we_ don't care, Captain." On this occasion I
called out, "Well, what do you want?"

"Are you Captain M---?" said the person walking up to the bed where I
was lying.

"Yes, I am," replied I.

"Well, I reckon I wouldn't allow you to go through our town without
seeing you any how. Of all the humans, you're the one I most wish to
see."

I told him I was highly flattered.

"Well now," said he, giving a jump, and coming down right upon the bed
in his great coat, "I'll just tell you;