rson
named Davenport, the owner of a charming plantation upon _Doe River_. M.
Michaux staid here a week, in order to rest himself and recruit his
strength, after a journey of six hundred miles which he had just made.
On the second of October, he again set out, and proceeded towards
Morganton. About four miles from Doe River he passed the chain of the
_Blue Ridges_, and afterwards that of the _Linneville Mountains_. From
the summit of the latter he observed an immense extent of mountainous
country, covered with forests. Only three small places appeared to be
cleared, which formed as many plantations, three or four miles distant
from each other.

From the Linneville Mountains to Morganton, the distance is about
twenty-five miles: in this interval the country was slightly
mountainous, and the soil extremely bad.

_Morganton_, the principal town of the county of Burke, contained about
fifty houses built of wood, almost all of which were inhabited by
tradesmen. There was only one warehouse, and this was supported by a
commercial establishment at Charleston. To it the inhabitants of the
country, for twenty miles round, came to purchase English manufactured
goods and jewellery; or to exchange, for these, a portion of their own
produce, consisting of dried hams, butter, tallow, bear-skins and
stag-skins.

From Morganton to Charleston the distance is two hundred and eighty-five
miles. There are several roads; but M. Michaux took that which led
through Lincolnton, Chester, and Columbia. The distance from Morganton
to Lincolnton, is forty-five miles. Through the whole of this space the
soil is extremely barren; and the plantations, straggling five or six
miles from each other, have an unfavourable appearance. The woods are
chiefly composed of different kinds of oaks; and the surface of the
ground is covered with grass, intermixed with other plants.

_Lincolnton_, at this time, consisted of forty houses, and, like all the
small towns in the interior of the United States, was surrounded by
woods. There were, at Lincolnton, two or three large shops, which
transacted the same kind of business as that at Morganton. The tradesmen
who kept them sent the produce of the adjacent country to Charleston,
but they sometimes stocked themselves with goods from Philadelphia.

At Lincolnton a newspaper was published twice a week. The price of
subscription was two dollars per annum, but the printer, who was his own
editor, took, by way of pay