ther
adventurers, they finally succeeded. The Kentuckians tell of many a bloody
battle fought by these pioneers, and boast that their country has been
gained, every inch, by conquest.

The climate of Kentucky is favourable to the growth of hemp, flax,
tobacco, and all kinds of grain. The greater portion of the soil is rich
loam, black, or mixed with reddish earth, generally to the depth of five
or six feet, on a limestone bottom. The produce of corn is about sixty
bushels on an average per acre, and of wheat about thirty-five; cotton is
partially cultivated. The scenery is varied, and the country well
watered.

The Kentuckians all carry large pocket knives, which they never fail to
use in a scuffle; and you may see a gentleman seated at the tavern door,
balanced on two legs of a chair, picking his teeth with a knife, the blade
of which is full six inches long, or cutting the benches, posts, or any
thing else that may lie within his reach. Notwithstanding this, the
Kentuckians are by no means more quarrelsome than any other people of the
western states; and they are vastly less so than the people of Ireland.
But when they do commence hostilities, they fight with great bitterness,
as do most Americans, biting, gouging, and cutting unrelentingly.

I never went into a court-house in the west _in summer_, without observing
that the judges and lawyers had their feet invariably placed upon the
desks before them, and raised much higher than their heads. This, however,
is only in the western country; for in the courts at Orleans, New York,
and Philadelphia, the greatest order and regularity is observed. I had
been told that the judges often slept upon the bench; but I must confess,
that although I have entered court-houses at all seasons during the space
of fifteen months, I never saw an instance of it. I have frequently
remonstrated with the Americans, on the total absence of forms and
ceremonies in their courts of justice, and was commonly answered by "Yes,
that may be quite necessary in England, in order to overawe a parcel of
ignorant creatures, who have no share in making the laws; but with us, a
man's a man, whether he have a silk gown on him or not; and I guess he can
decide quite as well without a big wig as with one. You see, we have done
with wiggery of all kinds; and if one of our judges were to wear such an
appendage, he'd be taken for a merry-andrew, and the court would become a
kind of show-box--instead of such a